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File 017: Revelations

THE FOLLOWING IS CONSIDERED ANOTHER BREAKING POINT IN THE LINE OF EVENTS FOLLOWING THE EXECUTION OF JAKE "MAGGOT MAN" GRANTHAM. IT IS FILMED VIA BLAINE'S CAMERA.

--File 017: Revelations--

10/12/XXXX

The video starts in the middle of an apparent conversation. It would seem Blaine has likely found Emma following the explosion between her and Keith, and she has shared what transpired between them.

Blaine: "-know it's weird, but just... trust me on this. Recording stuff like this is good, just in case you ever need to prove something."

Emma: "Prove something?"

Blaine: "Yeah. Like, say you go to campus police and tell them Keith won't leave your dorm, and he tries to say you invited him in there, and now you're freaking out on him? Bring a recording of your interaction to the police, and nothing he says can dispute reality."

Emma: "Isn't that illegal, though?"

Blaine: "There's some weird gray areas, but it doesn't matter. We start recording before hand, and then that way, we can just say we were already recording when it happened."

Emma: "Unless they hear this part."

Blaine: "Details, details. Come on, I'll walk you back to your room, and if he's still in there, I can get him out."

Emma: "Why do you care?"

Blaine doesn't answer after a long moment, and Emma doesn't press it- but he does respond.

Blaine: "This isn't the first death I've experienced."

Emma is startled in the camera, but she doesn't say anything. Having experienced finding someone you know and care about dead, she is perhaps painfully aware of how hard it is to talk about it.

Blaine stops walking, and Emma stops with him. They appear to be in a small, quiet, uninhabited area behind the dorms, perhaps a more unknown spot tucked in-between buildings. Blaine is standing very still, and Emma is likewise standing quite still, neither moving nor saying anything as she waits for him to speak.

Blaine: "When I was seventeen, my step-dad murdered my mother. He tried to kill me, too."

Emma's eyes widen and she stiffens, but she says nothing.

Blaine: "He was extremely abusive. He beat on her constantly, and I wasn't strong enough to stop him. A friend from school had a dad who taught jiu jitsu, and he guessed what was going on in my life, because I was constantly covered in bruises and trying to spend as long as possible as his house."

Blaine pauses again, and once more, Emma says nothing. She neither moves toward him, nor away from him. Both of them seem to have partially forgotten the camera, which is slowly falling down to Blaine's side as his arms drop down.

Blaine: "I set up cameras in the apartment, hidden ones, because I wanted to be able to provide evidence to the police about what he was doing to us. I wanted to be thorough. I was too thorough- I took too long. I came home one day, and my mother was dead in the kitchen. She had thirty-seven stab wounds."

Emma whispers Blaine's name, but says nothing else.

Blaine: "My step-dad was waiting for me. Mom always did her best to protect me from him, but she was scared he'd try to kill me if she left. Rock and a hard place. In the end, he killed her, and I... I killed him."

Emma's eyes widen even more at his quiet confession.

Blaine: "It was deemed self-defense. Ironically, my cameras proved me innocent in the end. It caught everything. He came at me with the same knife, but he was so drugged up that when I put him in a submission hold, he passed out and died almost immediately. Ironic. I wasn't even trying."

Now Emma moves toward him, perhaps seeing something in his face, or hearing the note of finality in his tone. She puts one hand on his arm, neither too affectionate nor too cold.

Emma: "I'm sorry."

Blaine: "It is what it is. The world is a dark place."

Emma: "I think I see why you handled everything so well."

Blaine: "I've seen death before... but nothing like what we saw in Wynona's house."

Emma: "Yeah. I think I see your love for cameras, too."

Blaine: "They capture things exactly as they are. They can't lie, unless you edit the files, but in their raw form, they give everything you could need."

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The two fall silent. Several seconds pass, but it's not uncomfortable between them. At last, Emma sighs, running a hand through her hair.

Emma: "I'd better face him."

Blaine: "You'll have to at some point."

Emma: "Now's not a good time for a relationship, anyway."

Blaine: "Strange, haunted video games, cryptic messages, and supernatural demon flies? Nah. Probably not a good time for much of anything."

Emma gives a very dry, bitter laugh, and the two move on.

The next several minutes of the video are just the two of them making their way back to Emma's dorm. Blaine seems to tense, and Emma gets quiet and introspective, her expression hardening the closer they get to her dorm room.

When they reach her building, however, something is immediately off. There is a crowd of nervous students gathered outside the building all mumbling to each other. Emma sees a student she recognizes and approaches them.

Emma: "What's going on?"

Student: "Something really weird is going on, in there. I swear to God, something must be rotting somewhere, because a ton of flies just... showed up in the building."

Both Emma and Blaine go very still for a moment, before turning and running through the main doors, ignoring cries of protest and panic from the other students.

The lights flicker in the lounge that serves as the main lobby of the dorm, and Emma and Blaine both stop short. The camera is pointed directly at the overhead lights, and it is revealed that the lights are not actually flickering, but that they are covered in flies. The light is sputtering through the gaps between them as they crawl madly around the light covering.

Neither of them say anything for several long moments. When they speak, Blaine's voice is deceptively calm, and Emma's is hoarse.

Blaine: "Emma?"

Emma: "Yeah?"

Blaine: "Where did you leave the game?"

Emma: "Oh, my God."

Emma takes off in a burst of speed, and without a word, Blaine follows her. They take several steps at a time, Blaine hot on Emma's heels. Emma hits the floor of her room and takes off a dead sprint; there are a number of flies on the walls that buzz angrily at their approach, but neither stop or seem to notice very much. The lights here are covered in flies.

Emma: "How are there so many? I was gone for maybe thirty minutes!"

Blaine: "Wynona's house wouldn't have been the way it was otherwise!"

Emma nearly smashes into her door, but it doesn't immediately budge. She pounds on it, but Blaine suddenly gets in front of her, handing her the camera. She takes a step back, the little hand camera shaking in her hands, as Blaine first tests the doorknob. He finds it unlocked, but when he attempts to open it, the door bows slightly, as if something heavy is leaning against it. He frowns, gestures for Emma to step back, and then slams his shoulder into the wood. It cracks with the force, and as he pulls back, a small swarm of flies crawls forces its way through the cracks made in the wood.

Emma: "Oh, my God. Tell me he's not in there."

Blaine: "Keith? Hey, Keith! Answer me! Emma's here! Are you in there?"

There is no answer that they can hear. The sound of buzzing is now audible and mounting in volume to the camera.

Emma: "We have to get in there."

Blaine: "All right. Hang on. Stand back."

The school doors are not made of very good quality material. As such, when Blaine heavily smashes into the door a few more times, he is rewarding with the sound of splintering; the top half of the door caves inward into the room, and as Blaine leaps back, they are greeted by yet more flies. No maggots are yet present. The flies angrily fly around their heads, but Emma is determined now, and rushes forward to kick the rest of the door in. The manage to get it open, and discover that on the other side of the door is an actual mound of flies, all convulsing on top of something.

Emma makes a noise of terror, but when they approach, the flies all suddenly back off, and its revealed that they were simply all swarming around the handheld game console. Emma picks it up, and the camera swings closer to reveal the words "GAME OVER" on the screen. Emma shoots Blaine a panicked look, totally unaware of the flies attempting to crawl up her legs. Emma turns, instead, into the room, and dives straight in. The room is unnaturally dark- pitch black, almost.

Emma: "Keith? Keith, are you in here? Please tell me you're not in here!"

There is a muffled sound, and both Emma and Blaine look at each other.

Blaine: "Hang on, my camera's got a flashlight on it. Give me a second-"

There is the sound of fiddling, and then a spotlight hits the floor. Flies scatter away from it.

Emma: "Keith?"

There is a muffled sound again, one like a voice, and Emma and Blaine immediately begin moving toward it. Neither comment on it, but the camera briefly catches a glimpse of Wynona's side of the dorm, and it is entirely spotless. There are no flies on this side of the room.

They make their way into Emma's room, completely unrepentant on any flies they accidentally squish. The air is positively humming now with the angry, annoyed buzz of flies. When Blaine shoots the spotlight at Emma's bed, it reveals a massive, moving pile of flies, clambering so tightly together that nothing beneath it can be seen.

Emma approaches, and either because of her nearness, or maybe Blaine's, or perhaps the light, the mass suddenly bucks away from them. Blaine jumps, and the light jerks to the side; Emma's windows are briefly illuminated. They are blanketed with a thick layer of these black flies.

Whatever the pile of flies was converging on is briefly revealed, and Emma screams. It is a continuous scream that does not stop.

Keith is lying on her bed, spread eagled, and there are flies forcing themselves down his throat. His eyes are bulging, but he is clearly still alive, though only barely. He is clawing now at his neck, dragging his nails across the skin and leaving deep, bloody gored lines, which the flies converge on eagerly, even in spite of the light.

Blaine grabs Emma as she shrieks and flies forward, likely to attempt to save Keith. He manages to drag her out of the room and down the hall all while repeatedly shouting the same thing.

Blaine: "Call the cops! We need to call the cops! This isn't something we can handle, you need to call the cops!"

Emma: "We can't leave him in there! He's being eaten alive!"

Blaine: "Those things are all over you, Emma! If you get anything on you, they'll start dog piling us, too, and then we're down! You need to call the cops and get some kind of- of- of unit here!"

Emma: "He'll die!"

Blaine: "We aren't equipped to handle this- call the cops!"

Emma is already fumbling with her cell and dialing 911, while Blaine- apparently satisfied that Emma is listening to him- turns to run into a nearby janitor's closet. He is rifling around until at last, he grabs what seems to be some kind of can of spray, before pulling a lighter out of his pants pocket. These two items are briefly visible as he places the camera down, before he picks it up and, ominously, turns the camera off.

--END TRANSMISSION--